The Hybrid Vernacularization on the Adaption in Sweet Dream the Early Korean-language Talkie  

Author: Chon Woo-hyung (Chungang University)

Page: 155-187

Abstract​ 

 Contact zones are fields of différance weaved with spatial difference and temporal delay. This différance strengthens the hybridity of Contact zones. Différance is often referred to as transculturation, which explains the nature of contact zones that colonies invent or derive fromthe process of borrowing fromthe empire. This essay focuses on translation, adaptation, and re-mediation as a representative example of howto use the empire's representation style, and how to appropriate oneself through conversation and intervention in the process. Focusing on early Korean-language talkie S weet D ream (1936) which was adapted from A D oll’s House (1879) the Henrik Ibsen’s Drama, The ultimate goal of this essay was to identify the way the film intervenes in the narrative of the origins of modern women and its effect. Through this, this essay tried to find out the aspect of hybrid vernacularization between the West and East Asia, the empire and the colonies contributing to the possibility of the change of relationship.

 It was confirmed that the translations on S weet D ream , that is, the actively intervention of the adaptation, reverts the separation of the house and the public place given to the woman since A D oll’s House to unidentifiable. Through this, S weet D ream went back to the history of female enlightenment, suspected the validity of translation and enlightenment originating fromthe West, and recalled the discourse of the “Wise Mother and Good Wife” to the vacancy. However, this Wise Mother and Good Wife was distant fromthe Chosun Dynasty or the traditional women of East Asia. It first appeared in the educational philosophy of enlightening women in Japan, where first adopted Western civilization in East Asia, and this was also a translation of the Western civilization discourse. This fact suggests that the translation is a representation style reinforcing the hybridity of contact zones between Korea the colonies, and the dynamics of hybrid vernacularizing things in the process of translation.

 In addition, this essay points out that the discourse of the Wise Mother and Good Wife discourse of Japan leads to the colonialist discourse that places the women of the colonial Korea as inferior. It is notable that the contemporary context of the Wise Mother and Good Wife discourse. In the mid-1930s, Japanese imperialismwas at the height of the fascist regime. The characteristic of Japanese imperialismat this time was that it declared the national-familyism which was to be abolished from the West and to be concluded with the World as One Family for the construction of the Greater East Asia Commonwealth. The Wise Mother and Good Wife of S weet D ream was related to national responsibility and ethics beyond the ethics of home or family. The reason why the Japanese imperialist speech was able to intervene without any interruption in S weet D ream is because it was the early Korean-language talkie that made the audience a target of low-level audience. In the end, due to these media attributes, S weet D ream became a premature “enlightenment theater”, and the popular culture of the colonial Korea, which is represented by the film, has become a promising actor in the total dictatorship system. This historical contingency also confirms that contact zones of the colonial Korea was the place of différance.

Key Words

Contact Zones, différance, transculturation, translation, adaptation, remediation, Sweet Dream(1936), A Doll’s House(1879), Wise Mother and Good Wife, Hybrid Vernacularization.​